New Zealand
Newmarket

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    • Day 3

      Surf and so much more.

      April 24, 2016 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

      So this morning I ended up getting up at 4 because I was scared to miss my Surf lessons today. It actually started at 8... Couldn't fall asleep which really sucked so I ended up going right beside to where I had to meet and had coffee and food before heading off. It was pretty good. When we arrived I actually put my wet suit on backwards like a moron but I laughed it off pretty well. I went for the lesson and it was the instructor, an Asian guy from Hong Kong who has been surfing for about two years, a French guy who was on his second consecutive day of Surf and a German dude who has been going out surfing everyday for the past three weeks. So i was the only real new person which was really nice since the instructor pretty much gave me one on one lessons. I ended up standing at my second wave which blew my freaking mind. We ended up staying out there for about 4 hours and afterwards I wad freaking
      sore!

      On our car ride back he told me I had the ride of the trip and he was really impressed in front of the others( because I was able to get all the way back to the beach) . I would not have been able to however if he had not helped me and kind of pushed me off (it was kind of cheating but ill take it since I'm a really new person at this and am terrified of water). I chose to not use my go pro quite yet since I spent most time falling then actually surfing. Ill probably bring it next time for sure.

      I tried another thing that is supposed to be New Zealand based called Cookie Time. It was pretty good but not really a smart lunch.

      I then went to where I am staying and the people I am staying with actually made me supper which was really nice. It was a really spicy pasta with shrimp. It was amazing. I guess that I eat some seafood now.

      Anyways, enough for today. Ill include a little sneak peak for tomorrows post. I met a redhead (surprising because of how elusive they are!) today and am supposed to go out for a bite to eat with her tomorrow. We will see if she actually decides to show up or not. Just throwing it out there, I texted her a few times and she keeps saying yip. I thought she wanted to say yup until I said it out loud and realised that is just how they spell it.... It's yes with an accent.
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    • Day 8

      Tea £20 a cup!!!!

      October 29, 2016 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

      Friday 28th October
      We all had a disturbed night’s sleep and are suffering to varying degrees from jet lag. For me whenever I sit down I nod off. So, for instance this morning we were booked to take a city tour by bus. There weren’t many on the tour, some Chinese tourists, some Italians and us but more or less as soon as we were seated I started to fall asleep, it was quite alarming. It was a good tour and the driver gave an interesting running commentary of the various landmarks and historical facts but I heard little of it. The 4 Italians sat at the front and jabbered away in Italian as we were trying to listen. In the end, I tapped the fella on the shoulder and asked him quite firmly to be quiet, Janet also endorsed it. After that they sat quietly like naughty children and only whispered occasionally. The Harbour Cruise only had a few people and once again as soon as I settled down I was snoozing. Returning to Auckland Harbour we did a bit of shopping in a large department store, Farmers where we bought some perfume to bring home as surprisingly it was cheaper than duty free. Feeling hungry, we popped into an Italian restaurant that had a good range of fish and pasta dishes and had a delicious meal. By now Janet and I were so tired we just wanted to go back and get to bed, Peter was faring better and had a clearer mind. Jet lag affects people differently, for Janet she found she got very muddled and could not work anything out, like what to pay or what currency we were in now, but for me it was like I was in a fog and I was actually hallucinating and hearing and seeing people and things I knew were not there, it was very odd. Janet bought 3 teas for us and came back telling us they were NZD91 that’s about £60, or £20 a cup!! I looked at her stunned, ‘how much?’ I said, she repeated it and added for good measure that she had given NZD100 and had the change. It was fast becoming another £95 pants moment. After more questioning we established that in fact the change was NZD91 not the cost of the tea! Janet’s jet lag brain.

      We fancied trying out the local buses to get us back – it was only about 5k, but first we had to work out which bus and then where to catch it. We knew where the bus terminal was as that was where our morning city tour had left from and it was right by the Sky Tower – a major landmark that was not easy to miss. Once we arrived at the bus terminal we asked the lady at the counter for advice on which bus to catch and where to get it. She started to look it up on her computer when all hell broke loose. A rather scruffy and dirty man aged around 60ish and a bit of a vagrant I suppose, raced in and, walking straight up to the desk next to us and, demanded she call the police. He gesticulated to a woman who had just walked in behind him and said she was wanted by the police. She looked very dishevelled and in need of a bath. Her right hand had a piece of cloth wrapped around it and she wore a cloth bandana fashioned into a skull cap pulled over her head. She walked over to him and they had a terse, angry exchange of words in which she said she was not coming home. It appeared as if she was his daughter. Janet who had been standing next to her swiftly moved away and stood behind Peter, leaving me stood next to the crazy lady. The customer services lady explained that she was assisting us and that she would help the scruffy man and the crazy lady in a moment. Crazy lady walked a few steps away to wait, seemingly appeased for now. In the meantime, the customer services lady made a telephone call and handed the phone to scruffy man to speak to the police. He took the phone and walked away to speak without being overheard by crazy lady, who now decided she wasn’t going to wait any longer and returned to my side at the desk. She asked me what I wanted. Hoping she wasn’t going to pull a knife on me or hit me, I explained with my biggest smile that I wanted to know which bus to get to Eden Park and where to get it. She professed to know and went on to direct me to the bus stop. Keen to get away from the situation we thanked her and made for the door leaving the customer services assistant, who gamely called out – ‘it’s a red bus you want’ to sort out the feud and presumably deal with the police. Her directions turned out to be partly right, but it took quite a bit of walking round, asking bus drivers and checking maps and timetables pinned up in bus stops before we found the right bus. The driver was very sweet and along with another passenger on the bus they got us to the right bus stop right at the end of our road. I think they took pity on us in the end and the driver even gave us a refund as we got off early.
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    Newmarket

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